Changing of the garb

Right around this time each year for the past 30 years I went through the annual ritual of changing the spring/summer wardrobe for the fall winter wear.
 All the linen jackets get packed away and out come the winter wools.
This year as I face the first seasonal change without the need to pay much attention to sport jackets and dress pants,  I have delayed the process. Also since we installed central AC, a godsend, we have pretty much lost the use of the attic for storage. The installation of aluminum duct work makes maneuvering the attic like crawling through the space shuttle dressed in a Brooks Brothers suit and Vineyard Vines tie!

By the way does anyone have any ideas on what to do with 60+ ties!

Do my duty

Last week I received my notice to serve on a jury. This is the first time I have been called to serve in over 20 years. Someone at the Retirement Board must be feeding this information to the justice department.
Big brother must be watching!
I'll gladly do my duty but a retirement card insert would have been a nice touch.

Boys who Lunch

 A version of the "ladies who lunch" has been taken up by this retiree and 2 buddies. But we have work to do.
Having spent 58 years on some form of school schedule it is very weird to be out at 12:00 having lunch in a restaurant, solely inhabited by the "ladies who lunch". To their credit they use the event as a social gathering to nibble at a salad, enjoy a diet coke and mostly chat about the time that has elapsed since last they met, even if it has only been 24 hours! This event can last over 2 hours, or until it is time to pick the kids up from school, whichever comes first.

As for the guys who lunch, we met at noon, ordered, ate, talked about the Yankee demise and were back in our respective cars by 12:45. Needless to say this new form of recreation is an acquired taste. As we plan to meet next month, I can only hope that the Yankees are still playing baseball in October.

Lunching at Costco, NOT!

 Many retirees troll at Costco for snacks and with any luck can put together a substantial fare of cheese puffs, BBQue chips, pigs in a blanket and faux Brooklyn strawberry cheese cake. Being new to this retirement  thing and with a reputation to uphold, today I sampling porcini rubbed prime rib @ 29.95 a lb. at  Mario Battali's Tarry Market. Here too one can knosh on pigs in a blanket . The pig was roast pork and the blanket was made of panchetta!


Don't tell the fellas at Costco.

What's important now

There was a time when I could only gloss over the morning paper looking for relevant articles about my business, education. I'd love seeing a parent at drop off who would alert me to an article in the Times this morning about....  and being able to tell him/her I read it and I here was my opinion! Score one for the well informed Principal.

With my new found and less demanding time schedule I have the leisure to really read the paper each morning.
Yesterday they included a section on RETIREMENT and the plight of the 401.  Pictured were  two septuagenarians, hand and hand, walking down the lane in some questionable clothing choices.

Two things to consider as I move further into my 7200 days, managing my money and avoiding bad wardrobe decisions, like brown shoes, white socks and shorts! Hopefully I can make good choices regarding both.

A matter of convenience

Having recently returned from Southern California I was struck by the fact that SoCal does not have convenience stores like we do on the east coast.

Living where I do I sometimes feel like we are in the convenience capital of the U. S. Need a pack of gum, newspaper, ice cream sandwich, lotto ticket, just go into a convenience store. There is usually one on every corner.

Not so in scrubbed SoCal, there you can only rely on a CVS or gas station mini-mart. The gritty convenience store with walls of magazine racks and bags of ice seems to be an east coast phenomenon.

Here are some business opportunities for transplanted east coasters, bagel shops, a good deli, Italian or Jewish, Dunkin Donuts and the drop in convenience of the convenience store....

Sweat pants

There is a Seinfeld episode where George, unemployed with no girl fiend or life,  arrives at Jerry's in sweat pants.
Jerry tells him that the look just says to the outside world, I quit!

While I am a long way from draw strings and elastic bottoms I am considering my next car.
The lease on the Red Lexus is up in December and I really would like to lose the high monthly payment and the expense of high test gas, but I am not ready to lease the sweat pants of cars, a gray, 4 door with no sunroof or leather interior.

What's a 60 something to do?

It's a HIT!

Judging from the hit-o-meter I had over 1000 visits to my blog since I opened it on July 1!
So even though I have yet to have any comments posted to the blog, it is good to know you're out there.

As you must have surmised part of this blog is to report on the wonderful world of retirement and to make observations about the things, people of a certain age, do. I am amazed at the ability of very young children to get the Internet and all things electronic. On the other end of the timeline people like me simply know the best time to go to Costco, and what to do with that "too big" lunch sandwich from Aux Delices.
Joyce has the same intuition as for the last two lunches she has wrapped up the left overs, brought them home and put them in the fridge for the next day. I must report however that yesterday she wrapped 1/2 of the #8 from Aux in a napkin and transported it home in an empty B-B-Que potato chip bag. OMG, it has come to this.

Cut off

Last Friday another phase of my GPS life was severed as I was removed from the GPS email system. Gone is the John_Grasso@Greenwich.k12.ct.us address. It is just as well as I need to break free of the past and move on.

Yesterday I attended an event for the Greenwich Alliance for Education. This group, made up of some of my favorite Riverside people, provides programming for Greenwich kids in need. A wonderful organization that does wonderful things.

When asked," How can we get in touch with you?", I was able to provide folks with my new business cards, thanks Eileen for the idea. Now I need a business.

Like talking to a chair

Having recently retired I am easing into the "senior" category.  I am working to keep my blog alive and to get the word out to the world of work from someone who has recently gone to the other side.

Clint's debacle at the RNC made me think of my blog. I feel like I'm talking to an empty chair. As since  I began the blog in July I have had very few comments.  The good news is that the blog has received almost 1000 hits since I began! I will continue to figure out how to get you to respond but in the meantime.....

Looking for a fixed income bargain, I signed up for the "Secret Special" with Dollar rent a car. This got me a "special" car at a special price. When we went to the rental office I found the Special to be a Ford Crown Victoria- the retirees special! Given the price of gas and the cars reputation for gas guzzling, I said NO! In reality the car just made me old before my time as this is a fav with Florida Seniors.